Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet recording apparatus and an ink-jet recording method in which an image is recorded on a recording medium having a high rigidity including, for example, CD and DVD.
Description of the Related Art
An image recording apparatus, in which an ink is discharged on the basis of an input signal to record an image on a recording medium, has been hitherto known. Such an image recording apparatus is generally referred to as “ink-jet printer”. In the ink-jet printer, the ink is selectively discharged from a plurality of nozzles provided for a recording head. Accordingly, the image is recorded on the recording medium.
Those having been proposed as the recording medium subjected to the image recording in the ink-jet printer also include recording media having high rigidities such as CD, DVD and the like in addition to the recording paper and the like. In general, when the image recording is performed on the recording medium having the high rigidity such as CD, DVD or the like, the recording medium is set in an exclusively usable tray. In general, the tray is inserted from an insertion port provided for the ink-jet printer, and the tray is transported in the ink-jet printer. In some ink-jet printers, the recording medium having the high rigidity itself is sometimes inserted from the insertion port, and the recording medium having the high rigidity is transported in the ink-jet printer. The tray and/or the recording medium is/are transported in a predetermined amount in a first transport direction, and then the tray and/or the recording medium is transported in a second transport direction opposite to the first transport direction. An image is recorded on the recording medium, which has been transported to a position just under the recording head, by discharging the ink from the nozzles. The tray including the recording medium on which the image has been recorded or the recording medium on which the image has been recorded is discharged from the insertion port.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-144931 discloses an ink-jet recording apparatus as an example of the ink-jet printer capable of recording an image on the recording medium having the high rigidity. In the ink-jet printer, a transport passage for a tray is formed by releasing a transport driven roller from a transport driving roller, wherein the tray carries CD, DVD or the like set thereon and is to be inserted in the first transport direction from a tray insertion port. Another ink-jet recording apparatus is also known, wherein a forward end of a tray, which carries CD, DVD or the like set thereon and which is to be inserted in the first transport direction from a tray insertion port, is transported to a position separated in the first transport direction as compared with a paper feed unit arranged on the backward side of the apparatus.